Fish Dying quickly

[Marine Iguana]

Your first post states you encountered velvet previously. Was it with this tank? Did you fallow 76 days? Do you do observation QT or medicinal treatment QT?

Yes, I did. I fallowed 2 months at 82F per humblefish recommendations. Medicinal QT with copper, metro and prazi

 

[Lavey29]

Yes, I did. I fallowed 2 months at 82F per humblefish recommendations. Medicinal QT with copper, metro and prazi

Have you checked for stray voltage?

 

[Marine Iguana]

Have you checked for stray voltage?

i have not, I don’t have voltage meter- I thought that if there is stray Voltage it would be affecting all the fish at once though? No HLLE in any of the fish if it’s long term exposure

 

[brandon429]

only about 5% of reefers are willing to put that level of prep effort into fish, = admirable.

 

[Lavey29]

i have not, I don’t have voltage meter- I thought that if there is stray Voltage it would be affecting all the fish at once though? No HLLE in any of the fish if it’s long term exposure

Well it sounds like all your fish are being affected but some suffering major symptoms sooner then others.

Did you remove all fish during your fallow?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello all, over the past 24 hours I have lost 4 fish- it started yesterday evening when I lost 2 lyre tail anthias. This morning everything seemed fine, then in 4 hours my flame hawkfish went from normal and eating to dead. Within an hour of losing the hawk, my cleaner wrasse developed the same symptoms and was gone within an hour- all of these fish have been with me for the past 6 months. All the other fish appear normal, with the exception of the foxface- every several minutes, the fox face starts swimming frantically, but then returns to normal and continues grazing around the tank.

Symptoms are this: fish out of nowhere would start bolting around the tank (no other fish would). After this, fish would have heavy breathing and lay on the bottom of the tank and seal refuge in the rocks. They would twitch and tense up often (reminding me of a seizure). I treated the tank for flukes with prazipro about 2 hours ago, no response in any of the fish.

Tank details:
-150g display, 30g sump
-Bare bottom tank
-All params tested and normal
-No inverts/corals affected, including softies, lps and acropora

Remaining fish stock includes:
-Scopas Tang
-Mimic tang (juvenile currently transitioning to adult)
-Talbot damsel
-Azure Damsel
-Green Chrome's
-Magnificent Foxface
-Eightline Flasher Wrasse
-Bruneus Wrasse
-Solar Wrasse
-1x pair percula clownfish
-Flametail Blenny

I'm stumped. Could this be velvet? I've dealt with it before, but it presented very differently (fish had visual symptoms), and I quarantined to prevent it. I also would think if it's stray voltage that all fish would be affected. Thanks for any help- I care so much about these fish and it hurts to see them suffering.

Possible causes are:
-Spike in temp lowering oxygen - fish will have labored breathing or gasping at surface
-Yes ammonia possible but likely not at toxic levels unless something which died sent numbers up
-Developing disease such as velvet. If velvet, some signs you will see are fish will scratch body against hard objects, lethargic behavior, Loss of appetite and weight loss, Rapid, labored breathing, Fins clamped against the body, and typically stay at the surface of the water, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the aquarium.
Flukes- fish scratching/darting, loss of appetite, labored breathing, yawning effect

 

[Marine Iguana]

Got a multimeter and it doesn’t appear to be stray voltage. Going to retest in the morning. Trying to figure out how I can quarantine all these fish at the same time if it’s velvet

 

[Marine Iguana]

Well it sounds like all your fish are being affected but some suffering major symptoms sooner then others.

Did you remove all fish during your fallow?

I removed all during the fallow period, they were QT’d for 45 days then observation for another couple weeks until the 2 months were up for the fallow period

 

[Marine Iguana]

Possible causes are:
-Spike in temp lowering oxygen - fish will have labored breathing or gasping at surface
-Yes ammonia possible but likely not at toxic levels unless something which died sent numbers up
-Developing disease such as velvet. If velvet, some signs you will see are fish will scratch body against hard objects, lethargic behavior, Loss of appetite and weight loss, Rapid, labored breathing, Fins clamped against the body, and typically stay at the surface of the water, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the aquarium.
Flukes- fish scratching/darting, loss of appetite, labored breathing, yawning etc

The only symptom that it the fish shared were the rapid breathing/heavy breathing. It appeared the fish were good one moment, then would spazz and deteriorate rapidly. No more fish have gone this evening, the remaining fish are acting normal.

 

[hunterallen40]

The only symptom that it the fish shared were the rapid breathing/heavy breathing. It appeared the fish were good one moment, then would spazz and deteriorate rapidly. No more fish have gone this evening, the remaining fish are acting normal.

That's good to read... I hope it stays that way.

What an awful ordeal. I sincerely hope you get to the bottom of it! Following along, as I'm curious what ends up being the issue.

 

[Marine Iguana]

An update today:
Woke up and had to get to church very early, everything appeared normal when I left.

Returned home just now and found purple Firefish (forgot to mention) beaten to shreds but and barely alive (humanely euthanized as it was suffering- I worked as a vet asssistant for several years and that was harder to do than any of the appointments I had). Chromis has several torn fins and a scratch on head, but still swimming and alive- placed him in sump as he was being picked on by the damsels. Remaining wrasse MIA, I’m fearing the worst for them.

I have a new prime suspect- the juvenile mimic tang. Over the past few weeks he’s started transitioning to his adult colors, but has been a lot more on edge. The scopas is avoiding him feverishly, the foxface is significant larger but staying on the opposite side of tank to him. Watched the mimic charge both the damsels and my clowns- the mimic is the only one swimming throughout the entire tank (like all the fish usually do). I didn’t think that mimic tangs were prone to aggression, but I know all fish are individuals.

I’m thinking that the tang might be going rogue and taking fish down- a lot of the fish that died didn’t have visual trauma on them, but I’m guessing that those fish were charged by the tang, smashed into the rocks/glass and had internal injuries (would explain seizure like symptoms).

What are your thoughts? It’s the only thing I can think of as all fish still are not presenting with any visual signs of disease or classing symptoms, and none of the inverts and corals are being affected.

I’m thinking I should be getting ready to tear down this rock work and work at catching the tang.

 

[brandon429]

nice clue detection/hunting given what you have in the tank

 

[Sleeping Giant]

might need to place a camera up to video the tank over a day or two

 

[Lavey29]

If he left a glove at the crime scene along with DNA, I think you are on to something.

 

[Marine Iguana]

Thanks guys- hope that this is the actual problem. Going to try a mirror and homemade fish trap for a few hours, and if all else fails just tear out the rocks and net him out. I feel so defeated at this point, hope that I can put an end to this.

 

[Marine Iguana]

Currently waiting for the mimic tang to take the bate and caught a video of the fox face doing the twitch and swimming that I was talking about earlier- after this it resumes swimming around the tank normally (compared to the other fish which twitched/siezed and then died). I was watching the tank and didn't see anything that instigated it- what are your thoughts?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thanks guys- hope that this is the actual problem. Going to try a mirror and homemade fish trap for a few hours, and if all else fails just tear out the rocks and net him out. I feel so defeated at this point, hope that I can put an end to this.

Hope you are able to get that fish netted out!!

 

[Marine Iguana]

Figured I'd post an update a month out from the event for all following and to help anyone who may find this thread in the future:

Was able to catch the Mimic tang and put him in isolation before he was sent to a larger tank with large tangs to keep it in line. It took a solid 4-5 days for him to fall for the trap.

No signs of illness ever developed. Remaining fish returned to normal behavior and have been doing well- those that made it were the large magnificent fox face, scopas tang, azure damsel, talbots damsel, flametail blenny and percula clown pair.

Now to work on recovering from the losses and restock- wish me luck!

 

[sc50964]

Isolate the tang is what I would do if I were you.